GAME REPORT

Gambrinus Use Late Surge To Beat USVO

The 2006 EuroLeague Women champions Gambrinus Brno wore down two-time winners US Valenciennes in pulling away with a comfortable 74-55 road victory in Group C.

Tamika Whitmore collected 20 points and nine rebounds and hit two big shots from long range during a decisive 23-4 fourth quarter run for the Czechs, who moved to 2-0 in the group.

Zuzana Zirkova added 15 points and Hamchetou Maiga chipped in 13 points and eight rebounds while Jan Bobrovsky's defense held the French to just 33% shooting.

Hervé Coudray's USVO have now lost their first two games in Group C, and the 2002 and 2004 champions will be in last place if Lotos Gdynia can knock off Spartak Moscow Region on Thursday.

French international Emilie Gomis was able to score 14 points for USVO while Réka Cserny added 10 and Nicole Ohlde had nine points and 11 rebounds. But Italian international Francesca Zara was held to just six points and four rebounds in 35 minutes.

With the home fan support behind them, USVO scored the first eight points of the game. But Whitmore, Czech international Eva Viteckova and Zirkova all knocked down three-pointers to pull ahead 16-14 after one period.

The game went back and forth in the second quarter and Sabrina Reghaissia hit consecutive baskets for a 29-22 USVO lead, which Brno trimmed to 29-26 at the break.

Neither team was able to pull away in the third quarter.

The lead changed hands four times in the period before the French scored the final six points of the period for a 45-43 lead.

But Czech international Ivana Vecerova drained a three-pointer to spark a 23-4 run which also included back-to-back three-pointers by Whitmore for a 66-49 lead.

That surge finished off the French.

COACH QUOTES

Game Quotes USVO vs. Gambrinus Brno

Valenciennes coach, Hervé Coudray:

"We accepted the defeat too fast, we had to be more active after going down by eight points but we didn t do it. It is not because of the tiredness. We had imposed our game on Brno for thirty minutes, only to be invisible for the last ten minutes of the game. Tamika Withmore was fit and we didn t stop her. They scored more points in the fourth quarter than in the first twenty minutes. It is not the same defeat as at Namur, because tonight the players had a better game. We didn't deserve to lose by 19 points. I am happy of the first thirty minutes because we gave Brno a lot of problems. We had to kill the game before the half-time, with all the free shots we missed. I still hope we can qualify for the eighth-finals, the team is in progress."